[Federal Register: May 19, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 96)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 29065-29067]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19my05-24]
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Part IV
Department of Transportation
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Federal Aviation Administration
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14 CFR Part 150
Airport Noise Compatibility Planning; Final Rule
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 150
[Docket No. FAA-2004-19158; Amendment No. 150-4]
RIN 2120-AI37
Airport Noise Compatibility Planning
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Disposition of comments.
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SUMMARY: On September 24, 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) published a final rule, with request for comments, to amend the
regulations implementing airport noise compatibility planning. The
amendment included revisions stemming from changes to the authorizing
legislation that had not been incorporated into the implementing
regulations. In addition, the final rule contained several minor,
technical changes. This action is a summary and disposition of the
comments received in response to that final rule.
ADDRESSES: You can view the complete document for the final rule by
going to http://dms.dot.gov. You can also go to Room PL-401 of the
Nassif Building (plaza level), 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC,
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria L. Catlett, APP-600, Office
of Airport Planning and Programming, Federal Aviation Administration,
800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone (202)
267-3263; facsimile (202) 267-8821; e-mail vicki.catlett@faa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Background
The regulations which prescribe the procedures, standards and
methodologies governing the development, submission and review of
airport noise exposure maps (NEMs) and airport noise compatibility
programs are found at 14 CFR part 150 et seq. The underlying
authorizing legislation for these regulations is found at 49 U.S.C.
47501 et seq. and was formerly known as the Aviation Safety and Noise
Abatement Act of 1979 (ASNA) and 49 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.
The final rule entitled ``Airport Noise Compatibility Planning''
(69 FR 57622, September 24, 2004) amended part 150 to conform to the
following changes in the authorizing legislation:
1. On December 30, 1987, Congress enacted the Airport and Airway
Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1987, Public Law 100-223 (AASCE).
Section 301 of AASCE amended the authorizing legislation to require
airport sponsors to provide notice and an opportunity for a public
hearing before filing noise compatibility programs with the FAA.
2. In 1994, the major Federal transportation laws enacted before
July 1, 1993, were repealed, restated without substantive changes, and
recodified in title 49 of the United States Code (``Revision of Title
49, United States Code Annotated, `Transportation''', Public Law 103-
272, July 25, 1994). Based on this recodification, the statutory
citations in part 150 needed to be updated to reflect the repeal and
replacement of ASNA.
3. On December 12, 2003, the President signed Vision 100--Century
of Aviation Reauthorization Act, Public Law 108-176 (Vision 100).
Section 324 of Vision 100 amended the authorizing legislation to
clarify that sponsors should prepare NEMs for a forecast period that is
at least five years in the future and to require revised NEMs when
changes in the operation of the airport would significantly reduce
noise over existing noncompatible land uses not reflected in either the
existing or forecast NEM.
In addition, the final rule included several minor, technical
revisions. First, it changed the minimum scale of NEMs to ease the
FAA's implementation of Section 322 of Vision 100. Section 322 requires
us to make noise exposure and land use information from NEMs available
to the public on the Internet via our Web site. We determined that,
given the amount of information contained in NEMs, it is necessary to
enlarge the minimum scale to allow us to provide useful information on
the Internet. The final rule also changed the locations where documents
are available for inspection because several FAA regional offices have
moved since 1989.
Discussion of Comments
The docket received two comments in response to the final rule. The
first, from the Los Angeles International Airport/Community Noise
Roundtable (the Roundtable), offers its support, stating the revisions
to part 150 improve and support its efforts to mitigate noise impacts.
The Roundtable believes allowing an airport sponsor to select an NEM
forecast period longer than five years is desirable, stating this
flexible forecast period is more likely to indicate significant future
noise impacts when applying the FAA's day-night average sound level
metric and incremental change criteria. Finally, the Roundtable
believes posting noise exposure and land use information from NEMs on
the FAA's Web site is an important step in keeping communities informed
about current and projected future noise exposure.
The second comment, from the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority
(RDAA), disagrees with the change that allows airport sponsors to
select a flexible forecast period for their NEMs.
RDAA believes the forecast period for NEMs should remain at five
years, and that airports should be given the option to produce a
forecast NEM for an additional forecast period (for example, ten years)
for the following reasons:
RDAA notes that forecasts exceeding five years could prove
inaccurate as noise impacts at airports do not remain constant (even if
the airfield does) due to changes to the number of operations, the
times of operations, the types of airplane equipment used and runway
use.
RDAA states that five and ten-year forecast periods for
NEMs could help airports and the FAA identify areas of existing non-
compatibility for noise mitigation within five years and areas of
future non-compatibility for rezoning within ten years.
RDAA believes that keeping the five-year forecast period
could prevent debate between the FAA and an airport over the need to
develop a revised NEM when noise exposure is changing a small
percentage every year.
Based on the plain language in Vision 100 about NEM forecast
periods, Congress clearly intended to make five years a minimum, but no
longer a mandatory, forecast period. The FAA has amended Sec.
150.21(a)(1) to allow for use of periods greater than five years
pursuant to Vision 100. The ability to use longer forecast periods does
not represent a significant change. The FAA previously permitted
airport sponsors to prepare additional maps for forecast periods
greater than five years and airport sponsors may still do so. The
change to allow airport sponsors to select a forecast period longer
than five years provides them flexibility. While airport sponsors are
still required to select a forecast period of at least five years, they
are not required to select a forecast period beyond five years. This
flexibility reduces the possibility of conflicting information among
various airport-related studies and enables airport sponsors to adjust
the NEM forecast period where other related studies are using initial
forecast periods longer than five years.
As for RDAA's concern that debates between the FAA and airports
will
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increase about whether small changes in noise require NEM updates, the
FAA respectfully disagrees. Section 150.21(d) requires airport sponsors
to update their NEMs if a change in the operation of the airport would
create a significant increase in noise over noncompatible land uses not
reflected on the NEM. Pursuant to Section 324 of Vision 100, airport
sponsors are now also required to update their NEMs if changes in the
operation of the airport would cause a significant reduction in noise
over existing noncompatible land uses not reflected on an NEM.
Experience has shown that it normally would take a substantial change
in operations at an airport to trigger a 1.5 day-night average sound
level increase or decrease that would warrant an NEM update.
Existing tools, including the Area Equivalent Method, are available
to help airport sponsors monitor changes in the NEMs. The Area
Equivalent Method is a mathematical procedure that provides an
estimated noise contour area of a specific airport given the types of
aircraft and the number of operations for each aircraft. Airport
sponsors normally monitor the progress of their noise compatibility
program implementation. Also, airport sponsors may crosscheck existing
NEM information already on file with noise contours being generated for
ongoing environmental or planning studies. All these methods should
provide a relatively simple way to determine if the NEM on file with
the FAA needs to be updated.
Conclusion
After consideration of the comments submitted in response to the
final rule, the FAA has determined that no further rulemaking action is
necessary. Amendment No. 1150-4 remains in effect as adopted.
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 10, 2005.
Marion C. Blakey,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-9827 Filed 5-18-05; 8:45 am]
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